The present invention relates generally to railroad right of way maintenance machinery, and specifically to machinery used for forming and/or shaping rail track ballast in conjunction with railroad track repair, replacement or reconditioning.
Crushed rock rail ballast forms the support bed into which rail ties are inserted for receiving tie plates, spikes or other fasteners, and ultimately rail track. Ballast supports the weight of loaded trains, and also is sufficiently porous to remove standing water from the typically wooden ties. Also, the ballast provides the ability to maintain a constant rail/ground displacement or grading over varying terrain and soil conditions.
During railway maintenance operations, including but not limited to tie replacement, rail replacement or the like, the ballast becomes disrupted and must be reshaped. The optimal shape of rail ballast is a generally level upper surface in which the ties are embedded, and a pair of gradually sloping sides which flare out from ends of the rail ties at a specified angle or angular range which is generally constant across the railroad industry. However, depending on the application and available space, the angle of the ballast may vary.
To achieve the desired angular slope, self-propelled ballast regulators are employed, which feature at least one articulated, fluid-powered arm having at least one blade-like wing attached. Similar in function to a highway snowplow, the wing is oriented at a desired angle and is pushed by the ballast regulator through the ballast as the regulator moves along the track. To maximize the reuse of ballast stones dislodged during the regulation of the ballast, it is typical for a wing to include an outer door to be provided with laterally oriented template doors. The template doors are pivotally connected to side edges of the outer door, and through the use of fluid-powered cylinders, the position of the template doors relative to the outer door can be adjusted to form “C-”, “U-” or similarly shaped configurations to retain a supply of disrupted ballast as the regulator moves along the track. In this way, there is sufficient ballast to fill in any depressions encountered to maintain a uniform slope. A suitable arrangement is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,883,436, incorporated by reference.
In addition, an inner door is positioned generally parallel to the track between the outer door and template doors and the track to prevent ballast stones from falling on the rails or damaging the regulator itself during operational speeds in the range of 10-25 mph. Both the template door assembly and the inner door are typically mounted upon a boom which is pivotally joined to the regulator machine and is held in operational position by at least one fluid-powered cylinder.
Conventional ballast regulator wings are often provided with removable blades mounted along their lower edges, which are subject to the most rigorous exposure to the rail ballast. Conventional blades are fastened to the wing using threaded fasteners such as nuts and bolts. These fasteners are often worn during the regulating operation, since the ballast is very abrasive. Such blades require replacement since the blades themselves are subject to the same abrasive forces. Thus, replacing the blades is a tedious operation. Also, since the blades are often relatively heavy and elongate in shape, they are difficult to remove single-handedly by railway maintenance personnel.
Thus, there is a need for a rail regulator blade which is more readily replaced on the regulator wing.